Mother refuses to give up on finding missing daughter

Jamie Fraley had a big heart, but a tendency to think she could fix people with problems.

Fraley went missing five years ago at age 22.

She was last seen at her Lowell-Bethesda Road apartment around 2 a.m. on April 9, 2008.

Fraley’s case garnered attention when her neighbor and father of her boyfriend turned up dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfiend’s car. Ricky Simonds Sr., was a person of interest in Fraley’s case until he was found dead June 8, 2008, after climbing in a car’s trunk and dying of hyperthermia, according to police. His ex-girlfriend had a restraining order against him when he died.

“Basically at this point, we’ve run out of the all the leads that we have,” said Gaston County Police Sgt. Myron Shelor. “We do still occasionally get tips.”

Another woman, Jennifer Rivkin, 43, of Kings Mountain was last seen in Bessemer City May 4, 2008. Gastonia The Winner’s Circle Bar & Grill.

It looks odd that two women disappeared around the same time, but Shelor said nothing connects the two women. They had different lifestyles and different friends.

“It just seems to be to be a coincidence,” Shelor said. “The facts and the information don’t connect them.”

Lingering questions

Going five years without answers has taken a toll on the family.

“You just go day by day,” said Stacy Dennis, Fraley’s aunt and sister to Fraley’s mother Kim Fraley. “You just have your good days, and your bad days.”

Dennis went with Fraley Tuesday to pass out 100 fliers with information about Jamie Fraley. A pink ribbon attached each flier to a carnation. Dennis and Kim Fraley went to the Gaston County Police Department, Walmart on Myrtle School Road, Franklin Square and a Kangaroo gas station near Ashbrook High School, near the place Jamie Fraley’s cell phone was found.

Dennis and Kim Fraley have gone all over the county. They’ve knocked on the doors of people who knew Simonds, searched in the woods and checked up with police to see if they have new leads.

“And we’re no further today than we were the day she went missing,” Dennis said.

Still, the family hopes that someone who knows something will contact the police or leave an anonymous tip with the CrimeStoppers hotline.

“I believe that he was infatuated with Jamie, and I think Jamie knew it, but I think that Jamie thought she could handle it.”

Fraley had been sick when she went missing. Dennis and Kim Fraley both talked to her on the phone April 8, 2008, but she told them she would be feeling better and didn’t need to come to her mother’s home.

Simonds was convicted of manslaughter for strangling an ex-girlfriend and served time in prison.

Jamie Fraley’s disappearance has ruined the lives of her family.

“I guess there’s hope. JayceeDugard was gone for 18 years, so you never know,” Fraley said of the California girl abducted in 1991 and the found in 2009. “Say a prayer for her, that she comes home.”

You can reach reporter Amanda Memrick at 704-869-1839 or follow @AmandaMemrick on Twitter.

Have information about Jamie Fraley’s disappearance? A reward is being offered for information that solves the case. Contact Gaston County Police at 704-866-3320 or CrimeStoppers at 704-861-8000 with information about Jamie Fraley.